Restaurants, hotels, bars and wineries in Palm Desert from the En Primeur Club guide.
Accolades in Palm Desert
The strongest wine programs in Palm Desert run through El Paseo and Palm Desert, with bars and restaurants that treat the cellar as part of the meal.
Bellatrix in Palm Desert pairs contemporary American cooking with an extensive wine list. It holds Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence, and its World’s Best Wine Lists Awards recognition runs through 2023, 2024 and 2025.
La Fe Wine Bar in El Paseo, Palm Desert, is a locally owned bar with an exceptional wine program, an extensive international wine selection, tapas-style food, craft cocktails and craft beer. Its outdoor patio adds mountain views to a wine-forward room.
Pacifica Seafood Restaurant in El Paseo combines fresh daily seafood arrivals with an award-winning wine list and an exceptional wine program. The second-story room also pours an extensive vodka selection, and the kitchen works with steak and pasta too.
Palm Desert and El Paseo both offer composed restaurant rooms with wine lists, from private club dining to Sicilian cooking and contemporary American plates.
Bighorn Golf Club in Palm Desert is a members-only club with an extensive wine list, and both a la carte and set menu formats. It held World’s Best Wine Lists Awards WBWL 3-Star recognition in 2023 and 2024.
Jillian's on El Paseo, Palm Desert, brings an exceptional wine program and an extensive wine list to a historic 1940s hacienda. Its eclectic contemporary American cooking blends Northern Italian, Southern French and American flavours.
il Corso in El Paseo serves authentic Sicilian Italian food with wood oven pizza on an a la carte menu, and the restaurant keeps an extensive wine list.
El Paseo has Pacifica Seafood Restaurant and Jillian's, both with exceptional wine programs and extensive wine lists. La Fe Wine Bar in El Paseo, Palm Desert has an exceptional wine program and an extensive international wine selection.
Palm Desert has no Michelin-starred restaurants in our guide. Seven venues citywide hold Wine Spectator awards, and seven have exceptional wine programs. Bellatrix and Bighorn Golf Club hold World’s Best Wine Lists Awards recognition.
Bellatrix, Mitch's on El Paseo and Pacifica Seafood Restaurant hold Wine Spectator awards in our Palm Desert guide. Bellatrix has Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence, while Mitch's on El Paseo and Pacifica Seafood Restaurant have Wine Spectator Award of Excellence.
Bighorn Golf Club in Palm Desert offers fine dining and steakhouse fare at a members-only club, with a la carte and set menus. Bellatrix in Palm Desert offers contemporary American cooking.
By Emmett Haley · Updated October 8, 2026 · Editorial standards
Palm Desert
Selected entries from the current guide for Palm Desert.
Palm Desert, United States
Bellatrix holds a 3-Star Accreditation from the World of Fine Wine & Lifestyle Awards, placing it among a small cohort of seriously credentialed dining destinations in the Coachella Valley. Set on Classic Club Boulevard in Palm Desert, it represents the tier of golf-resort dining that competes on food program rather than scenery alone. For the region, that is a meaningful distinction.
Palm Desert, United States
Bighorn Golf Club in Palm Desert holds a 3-Star Accreditation from the World of Fine Wine & Lifestyle Awards, placing it among a small tier of California clubs where the wine program carries as much weight as the fairways. The property sits at 255 Palowet Drive in the Coachella Valley, operating at the intersection of private-club hospitality and serious wine culture. See our full Palm Desert guides for context on where it sits within the wider desert dining scene.
Palm Desert, United States
On El Paseo, Palm Desert's main shopping and dining corridor, Mitch's occupies a position that reflects how the desert's dining scene has matured beyond steakhouse defaults and resort buffets. The address at 73951 El Paseo places it squarely in the strip's mid-to-upper dining tier, where the competition runs from neighborhood bistros to polished Continental rooms. A reliable option for those working through the Palm Desert restaurant scene with intention.
Palm Desert, United States
On El Paseo, Palm Desert's main dining corridor, Pacifica Seafood Restaurant occupies a position that Pacific-rim seafood rarely holds in the desert interior: anchored by sourcing logic rather than proximity to the coast. The kitchen works within a California tradition that treats the supply chain as the menu's first decision. For visitors planning a coastal-style seafood meal inland, it represents a considered choice on a street with strong competition.
Palm Desert, United States
Wilma & Frieda occupies a spot on El Paseo, Palm Desert's main shopping and dining corridor, operating in the casual-upscale register that defines the street's daytime and early-evening scene. The restaurant sits within a broader Palm Desert dining culture that prizes approachable comfort food executed with care, placing it alongside neighbourhood staples rather than destination-dining formality.
Palm Desert, United States
Alps Village occupies a Country Club Drive address in Palm Desert, California, placing it within the desert resort corridor that defines the Coachella Valley dining scene. It sits among a competitive local field that includes European-leaning bistros and neighbourhood dining rooms of varying format.
Palm Desert, United States
Aquifer65 and JW Sushi Bar belongs to Palm Desert’s resort-corridor dining circuit, where seafood sourcing, Japanese technique, and hotel-adjacent convenience shape the decision more than ceremony. Treat it as a practical sushi-leaning option in a city better known for golf-club restaurants, bistros, and date-night rooms than for deep omakase culture.
Palm Desert, United States
Backstreet Bistro sits at 72820 El Paseo in Palm Desert's main dining corridor, offering a neighbourhood-scale dining option within walking distance of the desert resort strip. Specific menu details and booking policies are best confirmed directly with the venue before visiting, as programming can shift with the season.
Palm Desert, United States
Casa Blanca sits on Highway 111 in Palm Desert, part of a dining corridor that runs from casual to considered. The name and address suggest a Spanish or Mediterranean orientation, placing it among the Coachella Valley's broader mix of European-influenced kitchens. Visitors traveling through the desert resort strip will find it alongside a range of independently operated rooms that define the area's non-resort dining identity.
Palm Desert, United States
Castelli's sits on Highway 111 in Palm Desert, a corridor where Italian-American dining has held its ground against the Coachella Valley's more recent wave of casual concepts. The room and the ritual here lean toward the kind of unhurried, course-by-course pacing that has defined the Italian-American dining room for decades, a format that rewards those willing to slow down in a city more accustomed to resort-speed service.
Palm Desert, United States
Chez Pierre Bistro sits on Highway 111 in Palm Desert, occupying the French bistro niche in a Coachella Valley dining scene that tilts heavily toward casual American formats. Among the corridor's bistro and café options, it represents the more formally French end of the local spectrum, positioning it alongside neighbourhood standbys like Backstreet Bistro and Castelli's rather than the valley's resort-driven dining rooms.
Palm Desert, United States
French Corner Cafe on Highway 111 occupies a corner of Palm Desert's casual dining corridor where French-inflected cafe culture meets the desert's relaxed pace. The menu structure suggests a kitchen organized around approachable French bistro conventions rather than tasting-menu formality, positioning it as the kind of neighbourhood anchor that earns repeat visits without demanding occasion dressing. For visitors comparing options along the strip, it sits closer to Backstreet Bistro than to the white-tablecloth tier.
Palm Desert, United States
French Rotisserie Café occupies a suite on Town Center Way in Palm Desert, bringing a rotisserie-focused format rooted in French café tradition to the Coachella Valley's dining scene. The approach sits in a mid-market bracket where technique matters more than ceremony, offering a counterpoint to the resort dining that dominates the area. It is a practical choice for those who want cooking discipline without the overhead of a full-service French room.
Palm Desert, United States
On El Paseo, Palm Desert's main commercial corridor, Guillermo's Restaurante occupies a stretch that draws comparison-shoppers and regulars in equal measure. The name signals a Latin-rooted kitchen in a dining scene that skews heavily toward Continental and Mediterranean formats. For visitors working through the strip, it represents a distinct point of difference worth examining on its own terms.
Palm Desert, United States
On El Paseo, Palm Desert's main dining corridor, il Corso occupies a position in the Italian dining tier that rewards unhurried evenings. The address places it among the street's established restaurants, where the meal is as much about pace and ritual as it is about the plate. Reservations and timing matter here, particularly during the desert's busy winter season.
Palm Desert, United States
Jillian's occupies a central position on El Paseo, Palm Desert's main dining boulevard, within a tier of independent restaurants that serves a seasonal, well-travelled clientele from October through April. The address places it alongside established El Paseo operators including Backstreet Bistro and Castelli's, in a market where repeat-guest loyalty and consistent seasonal delivery carry more weight than formal critical recognition.
Palm Desert, United States
A fixture on Palm Desert's Highway 111 corridor, Keedy's Fountain & Grill occupies a category that has largely disappeared from California's resort towns: the classic American fountain-and-grill format, where counter stools and booth seating define the room as much as what comes out of the kitchen. For visitors arriving during the Coachella Valley's high season, it represents a deliberate step away from the area's hotel dining circuit.
Palm Desert, United States
A fixture on Palm Desert's Highway 111 corridor, La Spiga Ristorante Italiano represents the strand of Italian-American dining that the Coachella Valley has supported for decades. The address places it squarely in the mid-desert dining belt, where red-sauce traditions and regional Italian cooking have found a loyal, returning audience among both residents and seasonal visitors.
Palm Desert, United States
Larkspur Grill at Hotel Paseo serves an all-American grill menu with craft cocktails, an extensive wine list, and mountain-view terrace seating.
Palm Desert, United States
On El Paseo, Palm Desert's main dining corridor, Le Donne Cucina occupies a position that rewards those who do their research before arriving. The address alone places it in a competitive stretch where Italian-leaning restaurants compete for a clientele that travels well and eats seriously. Planning ahead is the operative advice here.
Palm Desert, United States
Mimmo's Italian Restaurant on Highway 111 occupies a quieter register than the louder dining rooms along Palm Desert's main corridor. The room itself sets the tone: a neighborhood Italian format that positions the restaurant closer to Castelli's and Alps Village than to the desert's flashier newcomers. Direct Italian cooking in a low-key space for diners who prefer substance over spectacle.
Palm Desert, United States
On El Paseo, Palm Desert's principal dining corridor, Mole Palm Desert brings the complex, chile-driven sauces of Mexican tradition into a desert setting where regional produce and modern technique intersect. The restaurant occupies a distinct position on a street better known for European and American formats, making it a reference point for serious Mexican cooking in the Coachella Valley.
Palm Desert, United States
Musashi Japanese Restaurant occupies a strip-mall address on Highway 111 in Palm Desert, operating in a desert dining scene that skews heavily toward Italian and American fare. For a region with limited Japanese options, it represents one of the more consistent local choices. Plan accordingly and check current hours before visiting, as operational details are not widely published.
Palm Desert
Selected entries from the current guide for Palm Desert.
Palm Desert, United States
One of the Coachella Valley's largest resort properties, JW Marriott Desert Springs occupies a sprawling Palm Desert address where a 30,000-square-foot atrium lobby, Venetian-inspired waterways, and a 38,000-square-foot spa define the scale. Every room carries a private balcony with views toward the Santa Rosa Mountains, and the resort sits 25 minutes from Palm Springs and 10 minutes from the El Paseo shopping district.
Palm Desert
Selected entries from the current guide for Palm Desert.
Palm Desert, United States
On El Paseo, Palm Desert's main shopping and dining corridor, La Fe Wine Bar occupies a quieter register than the avenue's louder dining rooms. The draw here is a wine-forward program with a cocktail dimension that rewards return visits, placed squarely in a desert city that has grown more serious about its bar culture over the past several years.
Palm Desert
Selected entries from the current guide for Palm Desert.
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